Rumored CSRM accident?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:18 pm

Reposted verbatim from TrainOrders.com:

Quote:

Understand that a crew member on the Granite Rock # 10 at CSRM was in front of the blow down pipe, when the engine was blown down and seriously injured. This may of happened last weekend. Does anyone know any details of what might of happened? Hoping the involved are injuries are not serious and they make a full recovery.

Any confirmation or denial?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:21 pm

Sadly, I have received confirmation of this accident from both others on this forum (back-channel) and other media sources.

This was a deadly serious accident with potentially fatal consequences, not only for the injured individual but for the industry as a whole.

buzz_morris · **Joined:** Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:32 pm **Posts:** 344

Local report on the 911 call.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... 1/A_NEWS13

junior · **Posted:** Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:25 am

Isn't this more a good reason to have blow down release within the frame of the loco/track guage vrs blowing directly to the side?

I note that SRR has this set up, as does NH&I....prevents such cases.

Is there a reason it can't be done like this on all locomotives?

Doug Debs 2472 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:20 pm

Southern Pacific applied blowdown mufflers which discharge downwards just outboard of the tie ends. The blowdown valve on each side is piped forward to a pipe that feeds both right & left blowdown mufflers. The mufflers are the rectangular boxes visible in many post-1940 (or therabouts) photos. The late Bill "Red" Bartoli invented these.

Other RRs chose to discharge into a blowdown muffler underneath the firebox or drawbars. Western Pacific 2-8-2 #334 at the Western Railway Museum has this arrangement, I believe.

Advantages of the S.P. blowdown muffler design are (1) it doesn't tend to kick up ballast into switch points, and (2) boiler water minerals are deposited on the right-of-way, instead of coating the locomotive undercarriage.

The Graniterock 0-6-0T at CSRM was designed to fit within the very tight British railway clearances, which includes pinched-in clearances alongside the running gear to clear high-level station platforms ("mind the gap"). [Several (?) of these engines operate on preservation railways in the U.K.] However this means that there is very little room for external appliances of any description hung low outside the frame.